Stranded family rescued after Middle Fork mishap

Published
1:25 pm EDT, Wednesday, June 29, 2016

KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — Rescuers airlifted five members of a Kalispell family to safety after their raft capsized and left them stranded on a boulder in the Middle Fork of the Flathead River in northwest Montana.

The incident occurred about 7:30 p.m. Monday about a mile east of West Glacier.

Jeri Amundson tells the Daily Inter Lake (http://bit.ly/292xsPU ) that she was with her daughter's family for an evening rafting trip when they miscalculated a turn.

Amundson says with a 3-year-old in the group they didn't feel safe leaving the rock.

Nick Fister, of Flathead County Search and Rescue, says the river was moving fast but no one was hurt.

Fister says it took less than an hour for the collection of emergency response crews from various agencies to transport the family members to safety.